UW-Whitewater held off the Adrian Bulldogs 13-11 in an elimination game at the NCAA Division III Baseball Championship at Time Warner Cable Field at Fox Cities Stadium. Down by three runs with two men on in the ninth inning, Alex Cowart's drive to right field was caught at the fence.

"We were one swing away from being 13-13," said Head Coach Craig Rainey. "Cowart got a lot of that ball and unfortunately he hit it to the 405' part of the ball yard."

UW Whitewater (42-9) advances to play Johns Hopkins (40-7) in another elimination game today. Adrian, making its first appearance in the finals, finished with a 36-13 record.

Jeff Donovan and Greg Harder paced the Whitewater attack by both going 3-for-4. Donovan drove in four runs and Harder had three. Bobby Rickstad went 4-for-4 with four RBIs for Adrian.

Adrian started the scoring in the first. With two outs, Cowart doubled to right center and scored on a Rickstad home run to center field.

The Warhawks would tie the game in the second. Ben Prather opened with a single to center field. After Joe Munn walked and Billy Johnson was hit by the pitcher, Greg Harder singled in Prather and Munn. The inning would end on a infield fly rule double play. Ben Kuhlmann would be out on the pop up that eluded the second the second baseman, Steve Vanderheyden. Vanderheyden would recover and throw out Billy Johnson trying to advance to third base.

The Warhawks took the lead in the third and knocked out Adrian starter Josh Lancaster in the process. Jeff Donovan led off the third with a walk, and Thomas Corcoran followed with a single. Kevin Zalnis then singled to score Donovan and put Whitewater up 3-2. That was it for Lancaster, and Ryan Domschott came on in relief.

After a ground out, Jordan Stine singled to score Corcoran and Zalnis and give the Warhawks a 5-2 edge. Domschott got a strikeout and fly out to avoid further damage.

The Bulldogs tried to answer in the top of the fourth, but Greg Donovan struck out Todd Meyers with runners at second and third to end the inning.

Whitewater quickly built on its advantage in the bottom half of the inning, as Ben Kuhlmann singled to start the frame and Zalnis launched a two-out, two-run homer to center field to put the Warhawks up 7-2. Zalnis' round-tripper tied the Warhawk season record, now held with Brady Endl and Pat Tobiasz.

The Warhawks built the lead to 10-2 in the bottom of the fifth, as Whitewater struck for three more runs. Harder delivered a run-scoring single, Kuhlmann followed with a RBI double and Jeff Donovan followed that with a run-scoring single.

Just when it looked like the Warhawks had taken control, Adrian put together the biggest rally of the finals. Adrian scored seven times in the sixth and sent 11 men to the plate. The inning started with a fielding error by the Warhawks, and Jake Cappelletty followed with a run-scoring double. A single and a walk loaded the bases before Meyers singled to drive in another run. Nate Sarkissian's infield fly was then dropped, allowing Alexander Younce to score to trim the lead to 10-5. After a fly out, Rickstad and Steve Vanderheyeden had back-to-back run-scoring singles. Brian Bilius then launched a two-run triple to score Rickstad and Vanderheyden to trim the lead to 10-9.

"After the kean game we had eralier in this tournament, I had no doubt we could comeback," said Cowart. "I never expected a seven run inning, especially at the world series. It is tough to that but we believd in ourselves."

Whitewater answered back in the bottom half of the inning in a big way. Two-out singles by Harder and Kuhlmann brought Jeff Donovan to the plate, and he belted a long three-run homer to right field to give Whitewater a 13-9 edge.

Adrian got one run back in the eighth after Bilius reached on a fielder's choice and scored on Cappelletty's double to cut the lead to 13-10. Mike Jacobson, the fourth Whitewater pitcher of the contest, came on in relief to strike out Alexander Younce to end the threat.

Adrian still wasn't done. The Bulldogs got a one-out double from Meyers and Sarkissian was hit by a pitch. Rickstad lined a single to left to score Meyers to trim the margin to 13-11. Vanderheyden then hit one to the wall in right that was caught by Joe Munn for the final out.